1. C. Lopez, M. Cao*, Z. Yao, Z. Shao*. Revisiting the unique structure of autonomously replicating sequences in Yarrowia lipolytica and its role in pathway engineering. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11399-4
2. T. Wang*, B. Si, Z. Gong, Y. Zhai, M. Cao*, C. Peng. Co-hydrothermal carbonization of food waste-woody biomass blend: interaction effects on the hydrochar properties and nutrients characteristics. Bioresource Technology, 2020, 316: 123900
3. M. Cao#, V. Tran#, H. Zhao. Unlocking nature’s biosynthetic potential by directed genome evolution. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2020, 66: 95-104
4. Y. Zhao,Z. Yao,D. Ploessl,M. Monti, D. Schindler, M. Gao, Y. Cai, M. Qiao, C. Yang*, M. Cao*, Z. Shao*. Leveraging the Hermes transposon to accelerate the development of nonconventional yeast-based microbial cell factories. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2020, 9(7): 1736-1752
5. M. Cao#, Z. Fatma#, X. Song, P. Hsieh, V. Tran, W. Lyon, M. Sayadi, Z. Shao, Y. Yoshikuni, H. Zhao. A genetic toolbox for metabolic engineering of Issatchenkia orientalis. Metabolic Engineering, 2020, 59: 87-97
6. M. Cao#, M. Gao#, M. Suástegui, Y. Mei, Z. Shao. Building microbial factories for the production of aromatic amino acid pathway derivatives: from commodity chemicals to plant-sourced natural products. Metabolic Engineering. 2020, 58: 94-132
7. J. Lian#, C. Schultz#, M. Cao#, M. HamediRad#, H. Zhao. Multi-functional genome-wide CRISPR system for high throughput genotype-phenotype mapping, Nature Communications. 2019, 10:5794
8. V. Tran#, M. Cao#, Z. Fatma, X. Song, H. Zhao. Development of a CRISPR/Cas9-based tool for gene deletion in Issatchenkia orientalis. mSphere. 2019, 4(3): e00345-19
9. M. Cao, M. Gao, D. Ploessl, Z. Shao. CRISPR-mediated genome editing and gene repression in Scheffersomyces stipitis. Biotechnology Journal.2018, 13, 1700598
10. M. Cao#, J. Feng#, S. Sirisansaneeyakul, C. Song, Y. Chisti. Genetic and metabolic engineering for microbial production of poly-γ-glutamic acid. Biotechnology Advances, 2018, 36: 1424-1433
11. M. Cao, A. Seetharam, A. Severin, Z. Shao. Rapid isolation of centromeres fromScheffersomyces stipitis. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2017, 6(11), 2028-2034
12. M. Cao, M. Gao, C. Lopez-Garcia, Y. Wu, A. Seetharam, A. Severin, Z. Shao. Centromeric DNA facilitates nonconventional yeast genetic engineering. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2017, 6(8): 1545-1553
13. D. Ploessl, Y. Zhao, M. Cao, S. Ghosh, C Lopez-Garcia, M. Sayadi, S Chudalayandi, A. Severin, L. Huang, M. Gustafson, Z. Shao. A repackaged CRISPR platform unlocks the utility of non-homologous end joining in microbial factory engineering. Nature Chemical Biology. 2021, Accepted
14. Y. Wang#, P. Xue#, M. Cao, T. Yu, S. Lane, H. Zhao. Directed Evolution: Methodologies and Applications. Chemical Reviews. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00260
15. J. Feng, J. Zhang, Y. Ma, Y. Feng, S. Wang, N. Guo, H. Wang, P. Wang, P. Jiménez-Bonilla, Y. Gu, J. Zhou, Z. Zhang, M. Cao, D. Jiang, S. Wang, X. Liu, Z. Shao, I. Borovok, H. Huang, Y. Wang. Renewable fatty acid ester production in Clostridium. Nature Communications. 2021, 12:4368